A Blog about the walking activities of Mick & Gayle, from short strolls to Big Walks, interspersed with other random thoughts about things outdoor related.

The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say. [JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

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Sunday, 11 March 2007

Warm AND Sunny!

Yesterday I spent most of the day laying a laminate floor for the girlfriend of elder step-son (hadn’t anticipated the flooring exercise, so had taken a hand saw, but not an electric one). The rest of the day I spent lying under the bath, uttering the occasional expletive, as I fitted a new set of taps (and let me just say, twelve screws just to hold the bath panel on – had I taken my drill/driver? Course not!).

Spending a day laying a laminate floor is like spending a day at the gym doing squats. Sawing a room’s worth of laminate flooring by hand certainly uses the arm muscles to an uncustomary degree.

This morning I woke up aching quite considerably. The glutes, the inner thigh, the back: it all ached.

But, I wasn’t going to allow such aching to put me off the planned 18.5 mile training walk today.

The route was the same as last Sunday. The difference was that whereas last Sunday it rained for the entire 6 hours, today the sun shone on us for the entire 5.5 hours (half an hour time difference – amazing how fast you can walk when you’re not slipping sideways on mud the whole time).

Perversely, having taken delivery of my new Paramo Velez this week, I was hoping for rain today. As it went, I completed most of the walk in shirt sleeves. Had I had convertible trousers on, I would have zipped the legs off. How Husband managed to remain comfortable in merino baselayer under this Paramo outer and with long johns under his trews, I do not know. He didn’t even take his hat off until over half way.

It was certainly the warmest day of the year so far, which also brought everybody out of their houses. Last Sunday we say two other people. This weekend we saw dozens in the space of twenty yards at Fradley Junction alone.

By the time we reached the 16 mile point I was hurting a lot. Temptation to take the short route home was strong. However, I plodded on – even managing to jog the last hundred or so yards to home – reaching the front door just as the national anthems were being sung by France and England for the rugby. What perfect timing.

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It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door [...] You step into the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.[Bilbo to Frodo, JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]